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Lazy, no good, bug eating plants

I was outside today admiring my Sarracenias on one of the hundred and fifty trips I made outside to admire my Sarracenias today.

I happened to brush against a pitcher, a purpurea...and these danged earwigs came running up and out of it! What's up with that? I thought being in a pitcher was sure death. The digestive fluid...the narcotizing nectar...the downward pointing hairs...Poop!

My only conclusion is that my plants are slacker dudes.
 
That's how I feed about the little spiders that sometimes reside withing Sarracenia pitchers. Since my first encounters, I've decided to plant other plants (either VFTs or Drosera) with my Sarras, and that seems to take care of them pretty nicely. How big was the purpurea pitcher that the earwigs were in?
 
I was going to tease you about "genuflecting in their general direction", but decided against it. Then I had a real idea, but I'm not sure if it is relevant. Anyways, does the purp pitcher have any fluid in it? From what I have read, purps don't naturally produce fluid and need to have water added to the pitcher. But I'm not 100 % certain that this has anything to do with this situation.
 
there have been some interesting theorys lately that Sarracenia purpurea may actually be evolving AWAY from carnivory, and may in fact no longer be carnivorous at all..
where did I read that recently??
I will have to look for it..
Scot
 
Well, it finally rained yesterday, and the S. purp pitchers were filled with water. And, Lo and Behold..there was an earwig floating in one of them. 1 less earwig.....

Est, the pitchers on my purpurea are about 3/4 of an inch to 1 inch across..kind of small, I guess. April
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]there have been some interesting theorys lately that Sarracenia purpurea may actually be evolving AWAY from carnivory, and may in fact no longer be carnivorous at all..

That's a lot of wasted insect lives then since my purps munch through bugs.
 
Hm. Mine also seems to be happy (and get bigger) when I pop bugs into its pitchers.

But, yes, purpurea is apparently the one Sarracenia species that doesn't secrete its own digestive enzymes:
"Insects that encounter the purple pitcher plant, S. purpurea, drown in collected rainwater, where they slowly decompose by bacterial action and weak enzymes."
- Peter D'amato, The Savage Garden, p. 74

D'amato also calls purpurea "a poor insect catcher compared to other species in its genus". (Savage Garden, p. 76)
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]D'amato also calls purpurea "a poor insect catcher compared to other species in its genus". (Savage Garden, p. 76)

Nope, disagree with that! The only poor insect catcher I've found is S.x formosa.
 
perhaps because it doent need that many insects to do the things it does.
action-smiley-010.gif
 
  • #10
[b said:
Quote[/b] ] purps don't naturally produce fluid and need to have water added to the pitcher
mine produce a tiny amount of fluid but I add more.
 
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